I asked my landlord to remedy a roach infestation and now he’s evicting me.

r/

Location: Indiana

I live in a duplex. I’ve lived here since 2020 with no pests at all.

A german roach Infestation began a few months back after his upstairs tenant had been catching dirty water in a bucket as a result of him not repairing a sink leak, and I have documentation of her and i separately informing my landlord of this and pleading with him multiple times to help us find a solution. A few weeks ago, he finally showed up with some weak gel bait and that was it. No inspection, nothing.

Since that time I’ve only seen the roaches grow in numbers. Today I texted him and essentially said that he needs to remedy this or i’ll be contacting the department of health, as I have asthma and the level of infestation (in a home that has been documented multiple times as clean and well maintained by me) is stressing it badly. His response to that text message was…

“Ok. Lets do it your way. I’ll counter by suing you for the cost and still evict you. Your choice.”

I pointed out that he can’t evict me for that, and he said…

“It’s your infestation to remedy. It happened after you moved in. It’s documented. You can make the city make me do it, but I will take you to court for the costs. It’s in the Lease. Additionally, you’re on a month to month lease and you will be receiving your 30 day notice to vacate. August is your last month. We will not be renewing your lease. “

I’m gobsmacked and honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve lived here for 5 years and he’s always been cool with me. I was already planning on moving to Texas this fall but my apartment there won’t be ready until Nov 15.

Can he do this? Do I have any recourse?

Comments

  1. heavymetaltshirt Avatar

    IANAL, just someone who has dealt with many landlords who think they are kings. Your landlord has to maintain a habitable environment, which includes treating pests.

    https://housing4hoosiers.org/know-your-rights/your-rental-rights/what-are-tenant-rights-in-indiana/

    Generally your options are:

    • call code enforcement or housing and urban development for your town. This will almost certainly not be something your landlord loves.
    • make the LL take you to court to evict you. That means that you don’t leave at the end of the 30th day, and they’ll give you an eviction notice, and then you still don’t leave. They’ll take you to court. It can take a while and you can use this time to find another place, but evictions do make it harder to rent later.
    • leave

    But from my experience, the landlord is not going to magically become someone who cares about the law, and I’d probably cut my losses, personally. Living with a hostile landlord is a terrible experience. Your needs may vary!

    But talk to a lawyer to explore your options! I found these legal services that may or may not work for you https://www.indianalegalservices.org/eviction/